Daily Hand Quiz

Jacks are an annoying hand when you’re an aggressive player. The basic problem is they’re seriously at the top end of the range most of your opponents are going to be putting you on. That makes playing them with shorter stacks pretty easy.

However, when stacks get deeper, it’s trickier, because while people may have broad three betting ranges against you, their five betting (or four bet shove calling) range is doing pretty well against JJ. In other words: when you do get all the money in deep, you’re generally behind with JJ.

Give that you raised the last hand and were forced to pitch and that your opponent is in early position, I’m going to go ahead and give the re-raiser more credit than usual. You’re not getting the odds to call to spike a jack, and you’re going to have to play the hand out of position. I say this is either a shove or fold situation, and with as little as we have invested right now and our quality chip position, I’m leaning toward fold.

What actually happened: You shoved and were shown AA. You failed to hit a jack and lost the hand.

[Reply]

Lura bitterly Dooley indices primaries,storyboard audiological asserter

[Reply]

Ok, the obvious is that we are only behind to AA-QQ and are beating everything else. To call we only need a 27% hand but we will either be 80-20 dog or ahead to higher and lower pairs, on the better side of the coinflip (AK-AQ) or well ahead with a wider 3 betting range. The thing is we can’t just call as chances are there will be one over, but to 4 bet commits our whole stack. With a healthy stack, oop, with no real read on the opponent, I would agree with staff in saying that stacks are too deep to risk getting it all in pre flop.

[Reply]

With opp only having 30BB left this would be an easy +EV shove in a cash game and a good example of the major difference between cash and tourneys.

[Reply]

How do 2 jokers lose to AA?

[Reply]

I voted call. Theres no reason to push, and I cant fold a hand this good. Going all in here gets us called by hands were dominated by, or possibly hands were flipping against, and theres not enough in there for us to risk our tourney right now. It becomes difficult after the flop if villain plays it aggressively with all unders on the board, but if hes on AK and bluffs hard enough to get us off the best hand, well, he outplayed us. If youre going to play at a high level, you have to be willing to face tough decisions and try to make reads in the face of pressure. Lets see a flop.

[Reply]

The reason to push is that we are more likely to he ahead now then on the flop. If we call there will be 11175 in the pot with 27000 left (but more importantly opp only having 18000 left). If 3 unders there is plenty in the middle to risk our tourny life on. By calling we must be hoping for unders that we can go all in on as opp only has 1.6 x the pot. (A normal 2/3 bet met by a shove gives us 3.5 to 1 – I wouldn’t let myself fold that even if i was certain I was beat!) That being the case we will still lose to AA-QQ but with only 2 cards to catch a J on rather than 5. Therefore surely it is better to shove or fold then call?

[Reply]

What the hell is up with Staff’s analysis this morning? Fold or shove situation? Are you serious? With stacks this deep? That’s as close to moronic as I can imagine. There is no such thing as a fold/shove situation when your M is over 20. If you are shoving here, you have no confidence in your ability to play after the flop.

This is a perfect calling situation. You’ll be left with 27k (still a very good stack), and you’ll get some crucial information….the flop. If it comes A-K-7, check/fold. If it comes T-8-3, put out a feeler bet. If you nail your J, have fun!

As it turns out, your opponent had aces. But you could have figured that out without risking 3/4 of your stack. Your feeler bet on a board of under would have been called or reraised, giving you a better idea of what you are facing.

You’ve got a very deep stack, so you’re quite comfortable right now. What’s more, only one stack at the table is deeper than yours. You should be playing Phil Helmuth style right here (minus the berating of your opponents). Keep attacking those short stacks. If they resist (like here), you MUST play with caution. Your goal right now is to pick up pots cheaply, not to get it all in with jacks. That’s just absurd.

[Reply]

Good comments all. I voted call. JJ too good to fold getting 8-3, and not good enough to shove. See a flop and if uncoordinated small cards, lead for ~3K to see where you’re at. A raise and I’m gone. If the flop has overcards, check/fold.

[Reply]

I voted fold. Big stack raises 3xBB from EP yet moderate stack re raises less than 3x original raise with 5 people left to act? Looks like he’s asking for a call and I’ve got to play the hand OOP without odds for a set. There’s got to be easier spots to make my money……

[Reply]

Fold is of course the better option out of the two, but shoving is IMO better than calling. If the flop are unders we still have no idea where we are at. A feeler bet would surely have to be at least the size of opponents 3 bet to get any useful info so let’s say 5000 into 11175. If opp shoves we are still getting over 2.6 to 1 which are good odds when opp could be bluffing with 2 overs (possibility as our bet would scream feeler- with the stacks would anyone really lead if they hit any combination of the unders). And if opp just calls and the turn is another under then what? I can’t see any play than an all in working for us if unders on the flop.

[Reply]

Best quiz in ages! Everyone disagreeing, perfect.

I have become a horrible, horrible tour player lately. (or perhaps it is just that I have been playing more expensive tours than my skills allow)

But anyway, my two cents for what they are worth:

I think 4-betting is way the worst option here. As the staff mentions, villain will know that hero is not opening wide from early when I just got punished for it, and he will only 3-bet really strong hands. Shoving will scare him off AQ, TT and perhaps a few other hands, but most often just leavy you drawing slim to an overpair or flipping vs AK.

I really prefer the fold, as a I agree with the staff on most parts. No need to gamble with a big stack out of position. If you were raising from middle position, sure a push would be in place. But this could too easily be trouble.

[Reply]

I vote call. Having seen us trying to steal and failing, an opponent could put us on tilt. Another missing piece of information is what sort of player we folded against: did the rock reraise us or just a regular player or a LAG? Our image suggests we usually raise when we enter a pot, and our opponent’s aggressive image suggests that he prefers to raise rather than call.

Let’s see the flop and turn–

[Reply]

There are three way to play Jacks, all of which are wrong.

I pretty much voted shove, but a call here is plausible. you just cant fold jacks preflop when its heads up spite the three bet. you’re racing with AQ AK KQ, in good position against any other ace, and killed by QQ KK AA. there are a lot of hands that you can beat,so i think a shove is the best option.

[Reply]

voted fold. JJ are trouble: call oop and you still don’t know where you at on the flop. imagine all the different textures a flop can bring, suited cons, any face card that’s not a j , even T or 9 could mean trouble if you noted that the guy was aggr. So you would be against at least 3 aces 3 kings 3 queens (if your opp holds at least one of those) plus the combinations of cards like AQK , KQT, T9x, etc.
Yes you might win sometimes with that hand but you’re not winning the tourney by winning one big pot. By folding here, you’re placing yourself in a better spot to win the tourney by choosing an easier fight later.

[Reply]

Honestly if you don’t 4 bet shove this against a random fairly aggressive villain in this spot you are a sucker…

[Reply]